Health

In my early twenties, I started hearing more and more about breast health. I paid attention enough to know that I needed to conduct self-exams and get annual mammograms when I was older (maybe 50 years old I thought); but really, I just acknowledged that breast health was a thing. My thoughts on it all consisted of: I have breasts, and I need to pay attention. Like so many women in their early twenties, I felt invincible. No one in my family had ever had breast cancer, so it wasn’t something of concern. I had an “I’ll take care of it later” type of mentality. Until someone in my family did have breast cancer and it became an alarming concern. My mother

Most of the memories feel distant. My stay at the hospital, my symptoms leading up to my stay, and even the years of learning to live a new lifestyle following my diagnosis require me to stop and think about the details. But there are phrases that my doctors said that will never fade. One quote was, “Oh, she’s not going home today. She’ll be staying overnight for the next couple days.” Another one was, “If your blood sugars continue like this for the next 30 years, you’ll end up losing limbs and going blind.” I especially remember the moment they said, “She has type 1 diabetes.” I was 15 years old, just getting ready to graduate eighth grade. I was at a friend’s

One of your liver’s jobs is to break down fat and produce energy. It also takes substances, such as estrogen and BPA, and processes them so that they can be removed from your body when you use the bathroom. When you have excess toxins and hormones in your body, which is very common in this day and age, your liver can’t keep up. This can cause your body to hold onto excess weight. So, to keep my liver clean and working properly, I have 3 steps that I follow every morning: 1. Oil Pulling. This is an ancient Ayurvedic practice that aids in detoxing your mouth and body and also keeps your gums and teeth extremely healthy. Take about 1 tablespoon of coconut or sesame oil and swish

Oh, the diets. Anyone else out there as confused as I am? Although I’m always on the quest to learn more about health, I have to admit, my mind is swimming with all of this information! There are a lot of trends going on right now. Ketogenic, Paleo, Vegan, Vegetarian, Blood Type, Alkaline, Whole30, Gluten-Free…holy hemp seeds! I feel like ordering a pizza just looking at that list. Unfortunately, I think that’s what many of us resort to because the alternative seems too overwhelming. One diet tells us to focus on protein. Another claims that animal protein causes inflammation and tells us to stick to produce and whole grains. And yet another swears grains are the culprit for our inflammation. In college, when

Unless you’ve been living under a rock this winter, you know that this year’s flu season is a doozy. In fact, the CDC is reporting the highest flu infection rates since 2009*, which if you remember is when we were all in a panic over the Swine Flu. And to make matters worse, the flu shot is only showing to be about 10% effective in preventing the flu*, largely because the most prevalent strains were not covered in batches this year. These stats are enough to make even the least germaphobic amongst us panic. But, let’s face it, life must go on. Most of us won’t have the luxury of riding out this season sealed off from human contact. Most of us

In my family’s eyes, I am their resident hippie. However, in my eyes, I don’t even scratch the surface of what this could entail; my dabbling in probiotics and essential oils hardly makes me a hippie. I have friends who grind their own wheat for crying out loud! But after the birth of my first son, I admittedly took off my stilettos and dipped my toes into the cool and fascinating pool of holistic living, and I’ve been wading in deeper and deeper ever since. Short of an extreme health crisis, I’m not sure anyone jumps into the deep end all at once and so my hope is to encourage those who are making small steps towards holistic health to continue to do